Nifty likely to see a gap-up opening of 180 points

Indian stock markets are likely to open this week positive, thanks to bullish global cues. As Covid cases are stabilising in major States such as Maharashtra, analysts are hopeful that things will come under control quickly.

The SGX Nifty is ruling at 14,517 points, almost a 180-point gap up opening for Nifty futures, which on Friday closed at 14,338. Asia-pacific stocks such as Japan, Korea, China, Australia and Taiwan are up between 0.3 per cent and 1 per cent in early deal on Monday. The US markets too on Friday ended with sharp gains.

What's in a name? A lot for stock market, if it’s ‘Oxygen’ in Covid-era!

According to Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities look to be modestly good at the moment. A persistent rise in Covid-19 cases across the nation and enhanced economic restrictions have clearly dented investor sentiment over the last couple of weeks. Further, a sharp rise in the number of deaths over the last one week is emerging as a major cause of worry for State and Central governments, which can possibly lead to wider economic restrictions in coming days and may hurt economic momentum further, he said.

In a bid to boost the economy, the Finance Ministry has relaxed the spending guidelines to enable ministries and departments to undertake capital expenditure for ₹44,000 crore envisaged in the Budget for 2021-22.

"In our view, government will continue to handle this disaster by maintaining a fair balance between lives and livelihoods,” Modi said and added, “Market is expected to remain volatile until we see a reversal in Covid-19 cases”.

Movers and Shakers: Stocks that will see action this week

Covid-related cues

While complete lockdowns have been avoided, there have been a number of shutdowns at some of the major plants and factories. While the fundamentals support a robust economy, it is too early to assess the potential damages, which is why even the markets have not reacted sharply so far, said Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management.

“But the probability of the resurgence of the pandemic impacting growth and therefore, earnings, is quite high for the first two quarters of this year. These factors will continue to dominate the market in the coming weeks too,” he added.

Technically, Index again closed the week on a negative note at 14,333 with loss of nearly 2 per cent on weekly basis and formed a Doji candle for the third consecutive week, hinting at uncertainty in the markets. “The index has created a good base near 14,250-14,200 zone; holding above said levels structure will be positive, any close below said levels can drag index to much lower levels and on the higher side stiff hurdle is 14,450-14,500; zone fresh strength above 14,500 zone,” said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Stocks to watch

The board of directors of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance Limited held meetings on Friday. SEFL announced that it has further received an expression of interest for capital infusion from Cerberus Global Investments B.V. SEFL has also received EoIs for capital infusion of about $250 million from US-based multi-strategy investment firm Arena Investors LP and Singapore-based global financial services company Makara Capital Partners.

Zuari Agro Chemicals has announced that the NPK B Plant has been shut down since April 24 due to unavailability of raw materials.

Rajratan Global Wire: The board of Rajratan Global Wire has approved a proposal to evaluate the possibilities of setting up new manufacturing facilities of Tyre Bead Wire in Southern India.

Ramkrishna Forgings has started commercial production of 7,000 tonnes press from its Plant-V, at Saraikala, Jamshedpur, from April 22, increasing the production capacity by 17,000 tonnes per annum.

Hathway Cable & Datacom, which recently called off a scheme of arrangement involving Den Networks and others, is launching an offer for sale by its promoter group companies Jio Content Distribution Holdings, Jio Internet Distribution Holdings and Jio Cable and Broadband Holdings. The promoters will sell up to 20.544 crore shares, representing 11.61 per cent stake in the company, through an offer for sale, the company said in an exchange filing. The floor price for the sale is set at ₹21.50 a share.

Federal-Mogul Goetze: The offer for sale by IEH FMGI Holdings LLC, its promoter, will open for subscription today for non-retail investors, on Tuesday for retail investors. The promoters plan to sell 49.84 lakh shares and fixed the floor price at ₹250.

Shalby: The offer for sale by one of its promoters, Shah Family Trust, opens today. It has proposed to sell up to 58.1 lakh equity shares of the company (representing 5.38 per cent of total paid-up equity) via offer for sale on April 26 and April 27. The floor price for the offer has been fixed at ₹111 a share.

Modern India: The delisting offer to its shareholders begins today and will end on April 30. Shree Rani Sati Investment & Finance Private Limited, Sarat Leasing & Finance Private Limited and F. Pudumjee Investment Company Private Limited plan to acquire 93,85,688 equity shares, representing 25 per cent of the equity capital of the company at a floor price of ₹45.90 a share.

Results calendar: Alok Industries, Automotive Stampings & Assemblies, Benares Hotels, Castrol India, Delta Corp, HDFC Life Insurance, Kedia Construction, National Standard (India), Roselabs Finance, Schaeffler India, Snowman Logistics, Suraj, Tata Teleservices, and Welcure Drugs & Pharmaceuticals will declare quarterly earnings on April 26.

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